I started reading this article about a Mexican man who attempted to set his wife on fire with a sense of horror in my guts. Not because I can’t believe any man would send set his wife on fire, but because Jesus CHRIST, how many times is this shit going to happen?

I was so pleased to read that the woman managed to escape that horrible fate (the man couldn’t find a way to set her on fire after he poured gasoline on her, so he left the house)–but then I got to this part of the article:

The federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency was contacted. Police Chief James Horvath said he has been told by ICE that they only will become involved if the alien is being charged with a crime. He did not receive a response from ICE on Monday.

“We are finding more Mexicans living in the area,” Horvath said.

The arrest comes five years after North Strabane Township police arrested five Mexican nationals for assaulting a countryman. Three of those arrested also worked for Tatano Wire. The five did not face trial but were released to ICE.

Um…what? First off, what does “finding more Mexicans living in the area” have to do with spousal abuse? This could’ve been an article about how another woman was set on fire by a man claiming to care about her–but for the grace of god it’s not. But just because it’s not, that doesn’t mean that the spousal abuse then becomes not news worthy.

Secondly–since when do “non-biased” reporters use completely biased words like “countrymen?” That sentence very clearly assumes that all readers are “fellow countrymen” (aka good ol’ americans with good ol’ american birth certificates like you and me). Is that a valid assumption for reporters to have?

And if it is, why do I, a queer macha, have to be a countryman? Why can’t I be a cuntryboi?

All joking aside, this is what happens when people (more than likely men, although the author of that article was a woman), decide that “citizenship” and “questions of citizenship” are more important than understanding and dealing with violence against women. The women who are violated are completely erased from the story or become little more than the vessels that carry the more important story of “how are we going to catch us some alienz?”

article found via twitter